exploring the social media frontier

8/14/2019 Exploring the Social Media Frontier

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12 Technology Disclosures January/February

H ave you been tweeted enough to nally get linkedin? BTW, r u on FB yet?Seems like just yesterday when Tom Hanks and

Meg Ryan championed the concept o what it means whenYouve Got Mail, and only yesterday when Outlook syncedwith the Apple iPhone. Although the movie was released in1998, in the ast-paced world o 2009, we now have socialmedia.

Relationships are built upon personal contact and con -dence. Social media is an extension o that relationship and,i used, o ers numerous opportunities or CPA rms andrespective client relationships.

Public accounting rms can lead their businesses andclients into the next generation o communication by usingsocial media to bring a ace to their rm, personalize theCPA-client contact and provide a media orum or discus-sion, dialogue and eedback. CPAs in business and industrycan use social media to network, connect with current andpast colleagues, nd a job and more.

What is social media?As de ned by Wikipedia (a ree online dictionary), soci

media is a term used to describe media which are ormemainly by the public as a group, in a social way, rather thanmedia produced by journalists, editors and media conglomerates.

In essence, social media is about people connecting withpeople without actually having a ace-to- ace meeting telephone conversation. Its about bringing groups withsimilar interests together over the Internet and it is theway a younger generation communicates.

When was the last time you looked at the yellow pages tohave your garage repaired? Social media connections allousers to more narrowly ocus in ormation. More traditionapush/broadcast communications mass market to all groupto catch a ew who may be interested. Social media is lika lter or junk mail, where users have control over theconnections.

Dialogue, text messaging, globalized group orum

By Cheri G. David, CPA, CVA

ExploringThe NewSocial Media FrontierOpportunities abound for CPAs


2/4Technology Disclosures January/February 13

expressing opinions and sound bytes now o er more to ageneration o people with the attention span or only 140characters. Some o those popular social media orums in-clude Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr,YouTube and some less amiliar names such as Mixi, Orkut,iLike, LivingSocial and Sagazone.

Growth by the Millions

Social media, although relatively new, has been growingollowers at an explosive rate since 2006. On January 7, 2009,

Facebook (known as FB in shorthand) reached 150 millionworldwide users and now boasts 350 million users. I Facebook were a country, it would be the ourth mostpopulated in the world.

Twitter, a micro-blogging site, is growingtoo. According to James Norris at Mashable, anonline social media guide, in April 2009 Twit-ter was growing at a mind- boggling 2,565 percent.

In total, it reached more than 13 million people in the U.S.during that month.

Social media is mainstreamTrying to keep up with the continuous changes in social

media is mind boggling and may have you eeling like a neo-phyte who just landed in the blog zone. Dont be a dinosaurand get le t behind!

As a CPA, you are expected by your clients to stay apprisedo the latest developments. Did you know that the InternalRevenue Service (IRS) recently published Issue Number

2009-076, wherein the 2009 tax provisions o theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act are

now available on YouTube and iTunes as away to reach out to taxpayers? I the IRScan better serve taxpayers, then CPAs can better serve their clients using the same

arsenal o availablesocial media. w


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14 Technology Disclosures January/February

An action plan or using that media mayinclude posting the latest tax legislationhappenings on your site as a blog or linkingthe legislative discussions on LinkedIn orFacebook. Creativity is what drives socialmedia to be viral. The more creative andinteresting your post is, the more people

will read it, orward it and discuss it.Test the waters

Its time to become a an, watch web-casts and ollow someone on Twitter.

The VSCPA now has group pagesin Facebook and LinkedIn, and tweetsregularly rom its Twitter account,VSCPANews (see page 21). Even the

Journal of Accountancy has joined these socialmedia plat orms.

The rst step is to create your accountand to begin using social media sites. Byparticipating, ollowing or becoming a

an o other sites, you can gain an under-standing o social media unctions. A ter

ollowing other organizations, you canthen begin to add and create your ownpersonalized posts.

Just like learning how to read the taxcode takes time, so does learning how touse social media. Although social ace-to-

ace networking can never be replaced bysocial media, your time allocated to thatnetworking should now include time or

social media.For example, i you used to spend onehour a day on networking, now spend15 minutes a day on social media and 45on social networking. As social mediacontinues to take hold, so will your timeallocation.

Tweet your daily happenings or postlinks to business- or tax-related articleson Facebook. Remember to make yourposts interesting and personal enough thatthey tell others who you are and what your

rm represents. I you make your socialmedia all about business, no one will beinterested in reading your posts. Learningthat you recently saw your daughter or songraduate rom college or that you recentlywent on a great hike on the AppalachianTrail is interesting and could spark up alively social media dialogue between you,your riends, your clients or colleagues

rom across the country!CPAs are busy pro essionals assisting

clients, managing workfow, employees,etc., but managing the uture o your busi-

ness is critical as well. I the relationshipare now ormed, but ormed in cyberspace, a rm is either going to jump on board or be le t behind. The CPA-clienrelationship will always be predicated uponpersonal interaction, and social media ia part o that personal touch. It also ca

provide authentic unobtrusive interactionwithout pushing to uninterested parties.Those who want to see what you are up

to can, and those who are not interesteddo not have to.

BTW (that is by the way in text talk)did you know that almost everyone under35 uses social networks? CPA rms arealways looking or new and young talento join their teams. As almost all upcom-ing accounting graduates actively use social media, the best way to reach them isthrough their styles o communication.

The next time a position is availablereach out to the new young talent and postthe job opportunity as a tweet on Twitteror on Facebook, LinkedIn or rm blognews. Gone are the days o wanted adin the local newspaper. Now social mediais a growing avenue to post and targetthat talent.

A forum for feedbackand posting etiquette

Traditional published media is a per-

manent printed record. The di erence isthat o ten eedback o that printed medcan take weeks, months and sometimesyears. Social media, on the other hand, isviral and will provide instant results andinstant eedback.

Social media connects generationsacross state and country lines, and into thecrevasses o the world. A Twitter eed thaincludes the words tax can instantly btracked by any worldwide user ollowinthe subject o tax. Hows that or crosmarketing?!

Though CPAs can reap the bene ts othe speed and e ciency o posting data oopinion, it can also come with complexlegal concerns and sta restrictions, andcould damage a rms reputation withone derogatory client comment or nega-tive post. It is important to be mind ul owho is and/or may be reading your posts. Just as certain discussions in social acto- ace networking are taboo, so goes thetiquette o social media.

Dra t a policy that addresses the use o

The frst step isto create youraccount and tobegin using socialmedia sites. Byparticipating,

ollowing orbecoming a an

o other sites,you can gain anunderstandingo social media

unctions.


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Technology Disclosures January/February 15

social media or your company and sta .Address the concerns o use, but do not ban use altogether. Doing so could isolateand alienate young ambitious talent that hasgrown up using social media to communi-cate. Embracing social media and ndinga place or it in your rm will take care ul

planning and consideration.The payo is that you will provide animage to your clients and potential clientsthat you are a rm o the uture with a pro-gressive and orward-thinking attitude.

Security on the webEach social media site will ask or a

pro le o you and your rm. Take the timeto complete those pro les, which will linkyou to others searching or those pro lesand with the same interests.

Social media sites o er substantial con-trol o how much or how little in ormationyou want or people to see or not see. InFacebook, you can even limit your riends

rom seeing your other riends. There arenumerous security settings within social

media sites and rms should explore thosesecurity zones to protect rm image, sta and clientele.

The new HubbleSocial media is like the spaceship Hubble

hurling through space. Its a way to explore

new worlds and show us what those worldslook like. It brings orth pictures and con-nections or humans on earth rom spacethat are color ul and amazing. Social me-dia is bringing personalized in ormation,images and sound bytes to our desktopsand phones. New social sites are poppingup daily and allowing us to connect withhumans rom across the globe.

Take initiative and leadership withinyour rm, nd the young talent and bringtechnology to the ore ront o your com-munications. CPAs who embrace the

uture o communication can utilize socialmedia as a strategic advantage.

So, jump in get linked in, ollowsomeone on Twitter and become a an onFacebook! Youll be glad you did.

Cheri G. David, CPA,

C VA, is the owner/ manager o Cheri G.David, CPA, CVA,

PC, in Rockville. Shespecializes in small business consulting, including taxand fnancial statement services, aswell as valuation services ocusingon multistate and local businesses.She is a member o the VSCPAEditorial Task Force. Contact herat [email protected], orconnect with her at:

www.facebook.com/people/

Cheri-G-David/1355316339

http://www.linkedin.com/in/

cheridavidcpa

http://twitter.com/CheriGDavidCPA

exploring the social media frontier

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